Atchison County Biographies
E. W. Howe's Historical Edition of the Atchison Daily Globe
These biographies were originally published in 1896 in the Atchison Daily Globe, written by the editor and publisher, E. W. Howe. In 1916 the biographies were reproduced in Sheffield Ingall's "History of Atchison County, Kansas," with a few updates such as death information.
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SAMUEL HOLLISTER.
Samuel Hollister was one of the original settlers of Sumner. He landed
at Leavenworth May 1, 1857, coming by boat from Jefferson City. Two
weeks later he met a number of the members of the Sumner Town Company
who were looking for somebody to go to Sumner to build a hotel. Having
been a contractor and builder in his old home in New Jersey. Mr. Hollister
accompanied the men to Sumner, which then consisted of a claim cabin, used as
a hotel, and four frame houses in course of construction. The material for
the frame houses had been brought from Cincinnati, ready framed, and when
completed were 16x24, containing two rooms each. Mr. Hollister took
the contract to build the Baker House, which contained three rooms on the
ground floor. The half story above was all in one room, where the guests
slept. The frames for the Baker House were hewn out in the timber
adjoining the town; the weather boarding and shingles were shipped up the river.
The hotel was completed in the summer of 1857, and was operated by Hood
Baker, a cousin of Capt. David Baker, for many years a prominent citizen
of Atchison.
In the fall of the same year Mr. Hollister began work on the Sumner
House, the contract price being $16,000.00. The brick used were made on
the ground. The lumber came by boat from Pittsburgh, Penn. This hotel
was completed in the summer of the following year. It was built by the
town company, which owed Mr. Hollister $3,000.00 at the time of his death,
a few years ago.
Mr. Hollister lived in Sumner twelve years, vigorously fighting Atchison.
In the fall of 1858 he built a mill, in company with Al Barber, later adding a
gristmill, which was the second built in the county, the first having been built
in Atchison, by William Bowman. Mr. Hollister went down the river in a
boat in January, 1859, and when he reached his old home in the Catskill
mountains, he crossed the Hudson river on the ice. During this trip east he was
married to Miss Harriet Carroll, a lineal descendant of Charles Carroll, one
of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. His wife returned with
him to Sumner, and they afterwards moved to Atchison, where they lived for
many years. Mr. Hollister died March 28, 1910.
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